Sunny sat with him, two hands holding one of his, the others resting gently on either his leg or his arm, in hopes she would be able to detect the first sign of movement. While she sat there, she rested her head against his good shoulder listening to the soft sound of his breath, now enhanced by a new artificial lung.

She tried not to dwell on the scene, despite being contained within it.

Sunny had a picture, an image of Adam from when he was younger, whole and healthy, both eyes, both legs, blond hair. And now, as he lay there, she couldn't help but feel she was watching him be chipped away piece by piece. It was then that she was assailed by a guilt she thought years gone by now as she looked down at his leg. His prosthetic had been removed and set off to the side leaving him with the missing limb from the thigh down.

She had taken that from him.

She was the first person to steal a piece.

And now here he was, cobbled together and held in place by a mixture of machine parts and flesh.

A leg, A lung, an eye and a heart. The entire left side of his chest was mostly exposed, a vast swath of artificial skin that didn't quite match the other skin around itt. There were still bandages of course, Krill and the other doctors expected some drainage from the implantation of the lung, and so had left tubes sticking out of his chest for just such reason.

He looked

Strange.

Barely human.

A missing leg, hair gone whit with stress little lines of orange light pulsing through his veins where the void sickness still lingered, only coming out now that he was injured.

Between the Adam she saw now, and the Adam in this picture.

He was unrecognizable.

Like Dr. Frankenstein's monster.

And yes she had read the book, Adam had insisted. Mary Shelley was the mother of science fiction after all. Sunny hadn't liked the book very much, but she had humored him. After finishing it, he grudgingly admitted that he didn't like it all that much either, but he thought it was important.

She squeezed his hand tighter, "Come on." She muttered.

He didn't move, and she sighed, leaning forward to rest her head back on his arm, soft, human skin pressed against her cheek.

From here she was at the perfect angle to see the light downy fuzz that covered his human ski, trailing up his arms and onto his shoulders. It was blond in color and so light and wispy it would have been impossible to notice at anything other than this distance. From here she could see where the line of fuzz terminated where real and artificial skin met.

"Come on." She muttered again, "Nane anidonish." she said again.

His face remained still and unmoving.

She sighed heavily.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, but woke up when the lights in the room were dimmed to the shuffling of feet.

She lifted her head to see Dr. katie standing in the doorway.. Her long, dark hair was tied back in a messy bun,and she held a holopad in one hand. She walked over quietly to look at the monitors, "Any change/"

Sunny shook her head, "Should he.... Have woken up by now."

Katie pursed her lips, clearly trying to think of the best way to phrase her next sentence.

"Don't sugarcoat it." Sunny said

Katie nodded, "It's hard to say. The injuries were incredibly traumatic. With the amount of bloodloss he sustained before we showed up, there is no knowing how long his brain was starved for oxygen. Celex says the anima is still there, so that is a good sign, but there is always a chance that the brain damage was so severe that the anima won't be able to interact through the damage...." She paused jaw working, "But he is incredibly drugged right now, and his body is trying to repair an immense amount of damage, so it might just be sleeping it off......"

"There's more." Sunny said, prodding the other woman to speaking.

She sighed, "Well, there is a possibility that despite all of that he still might not wake up." There are a series of structures in the brain that control a person's ability to wake up and become conscious. If those structures are damaged, the brain might be completely functional but the person just might not have the ability to be conscious. It happens often in coma patients. Due to the nature of neurons and nerves, it could take years to recover, or not at all."

Sunny felt her heart sink in her chest.

If this was at any other point before this whole void thing started, she would have put Adam on a DNR. Keeping him alive just so he could lay there and waste away didn't seem right, but at the same time if she let him die, there was no telling what Kazna would do to his sole.

Probably something worse than death.

They already knew that the void was using anima energy for power, since they column't seem to generate their own.

Someone like Adam would be valuable.

She went quiet as Katie checked the tubes and the monitors before backing away.

A day.

And a night,

And another day passed by, the world around her moving slowly as she sat and waited, watched for any sign of movement.

It was in the dark of that second night or so when she sensed the change.

So in tune was she with his breathing, that she was able to detect the slightest hint of change as he came out of unconsciousness. Sunny lifted her head as his breath hitched. She sat on the edge of her seat, watching his face intently. His eyelids twitched once, then twice, before slowly opening.

His pupils were incredibly dilated, but it was dark and the ambient light of the room was soft and soothing.

He blinked once, and fought to keep his eyes open.

"Adam," Sunny said squeezing his hand hard, "Adam can you hear me."

His head lolled to the side, oxygen mask fogging with another breath.

His eyes fell on her, and though his mouth was mostly obscured, she watched his cheeks stretch, and the little lines at the corners of his eyes deepened a bit.

Sunny had heard a human call those laugh lines once, but she didn't need to know that to recognize a smile.

No matter how high or braindead he might have been, at least Sunny got a smile.

Inside her chest, Sunny's heart thrummed, filing hr with a shot of heat that blossomed outwards into her limbs.

His eyes fluttered again, and then dropped.

She reached out a hand to cup his cheek, the skin of his face wasm.

He didn't say anything, and his eyes were closed, put he turned his head inward into her hand and sighed deeply, before drifting off back to sleep.

Sunny's heart thrilled inside.

He was alive.

That was the least she could say and for now that was going to have to do. Alive and awake, and he recognized her.

She was able to sleep a bit easier than, arms resting on the bed, hands still holding his as she waited.

He gained consciousness a few more times in the following hours, the time between each getting shorter and shorter. With each turn, he seemed to gain more awareness. At one point upon waking, he clutched her hand tight, and looking up she could see his eyes wide eyebrows raised as if he was startled or afraid. She didn't know what he was seeing or what he had seen to cause that, but the next time Katie came in to check on them, she found Sunny laying on the bed with Adam, his head lolled to rest against her chest, sleeping again.

He woke up again sometime in the late evening when the sound of the hospital was leaking through the doors, and light was spilling in from the window from the glowing street orbs. He didn't speak, eyes hooded with exhaustion. Sunny momentarily entertained the idea that Adam may never speak again, and decided at least she could live with that if she had to .

If anything she could get the anima surgery so she could read minds.

She thought that Adam narrowed his eyes at that thought, but perhaps it was simply wishful thinking.

He was still awake when Krill came in.

And the doctor studiously went about determining if he still had the capacity to think like a normal person.

After his examination, that was comprised mostly of bright lights and clicking noises , Krill turned to Sunny, "Well the good news is his eyes are normally reactive, and so is his hearing, so he can hear and see us just fine. Based on what I can determine he understands at least some of what we are saying."

"Some?"

"You must understand, the amount of drugs we have him on is astronomical to put it lightly. Having your entire chest reconstructed is extreme, and even now will hurt terribly. It is likely he will gain more lucidity as we lower the drug dosage, but it is going to take some time."

That made Sunny feel a bit better, and she let Krill go.

Adam went back to sleep.

It was late the following morning when, Martha came to Visit.

She poked her head around the corner and waved to sunny, who sat up.

Martha's eyes fell on Adam's still face, gaunt and pale especially against his hair.

Her eyes fell on the right side of his chest, scanning over the damage.

Her mouth twitched, but she remained surprisingly composed, "Are you okay for a visitor."

Sunny knew instantly, and was glad martha had checked in first. She wasn't sure if she wanted Kay to see any of this, but eventually pulled the blanket higher up Adam's chest and nodded for Martha to come in.

Kay held his grandma's hand, and waddled in after her.

Sunny felt immediately bad for making him spend even more time with his grandparents now that she was home, but he didn't make a complaint. He clutched a stuffed fish, which had been a gift from Kelly as it turned out, and peered over the bed at his dad, big green eyes wide with confusion and curiosity

He walked over and touched Adam's hand softly, sitting there a long time before looking up at Sunny, "tak está durmiendo?"

Sunny frowned, and glanced at martha, who looked almost as confused. "I know that first word." Martha said, and Sunny did too. It was father in Drev but.

"Was that spanish?"

Sunny frowned, "Ramirez...."

It was just then that Ramirez's guilty face peeked from around the corner, "Is dad sleeping. That's..... That's what he said." Ramirez's eyes fell on his friend, "Just wanted to give the boy a head start.... You know, make him cultured and all that."

Sunny reached out, plucking Kay from the floor, "Yeah, he's just sleeping."

Sunny sat kay down on the bed next to her, "Be gentle." She said. Kay did as told, gently patting Adam's arm before eventually, softly learning forward to rest his head on Adam's arm one arm curled around his stuffed fish one hand in his mouth, which was usually a habit sunny was trying to break, but let him have for now.

They all needed a little comfort anyway